Birthday Fever
by DragonsRuleYourDreams12
Summary: Deidara is terribly ill on his birthday. Sasori seems to be Deidara's only hope for survival. But what if Sasori cannot succeed in saving his partner's life? Will death be the only present Sasori is able to give his best friend? I do not own anything.


Deidara slumped through the base, out of his bedroom. Two-day-old pajamas stuck to his arms and legs; a sticky layer of summer sweat gluing the clothing onto his skin. Normally this disgusted him, and he would have showered at least twice, but the raw pain shooting through his throat whenever he swallowed kept him from doing so.

The pain induced his low fever, which made his limbs drag whenever he moved from fatigue. Not only was Pein angry with Deidara's slacking off, but the puppet master of the Akatsuki wasn't happy with the stuffy-ness that their bedroom now held.

Konan suggested Deidara kept to his room, accept for food, only because Sasori refused to cater to the blond. Deidara wasn't surprised at this; Sasori was almost always cold. But today was the start of May 5th...The bomber's birthday.

The start of the morning had gone fairly well. Deidara had woken to his Danna working on his puppets and propped himself up with one elbow in bed. He reached over and kneaded some dry clay that was on his nightstand.

This movement alerted the puppet master, making the puppet turn halfway in his chair to greet Deidara with a half-hearted "Happy Birthday, Brat"... Slacking in effort as well as emotion because clearly the redhead hadn't had his morning coffee.

Deidara, surprised his Danna even remembered, smiled. But then he remembered he had reminded Sasori of his birthday only yesterday. If he hadn't, the puppet master wouldn't have known... Erm, _remembered_, and Deidara would have been mad.

The bomber slid out of bed, wearing his same light blue fuzzy pajamas that bugged Sasori with a passion. Normally bad guys clothed themselves in dark, mysterious clothing... Not bright and bubbly fuzzy matching bottoms and top with what looked like polar bear printing on it. And the creatures were _smiling_.

But the red-tinted face and occasional bead of sweat that rolled down Deidara's face reminded the puppeteer that his partner was ill-stricken, and getting dressed only to sit in bed all day didn't even sound appealing to Sasori, so he couldn't exactly blame him.

Deidara's hazy blue eye drifted over to Sasori's desk, looking over the puppet he was working on. Now, a colorfully wrapped box would have been a nice sight. But no. It was pieces of chipped wood. Deidara sighed and made his way down the hall.

He bumped into Tobi. He mentally groaned. An overly-annoying idiot this early in the morning meant that Tobi had remembered his Senpai's birthday, and this hyper fool would probably sing an off-key birthday song he only knew half the words to.

But instead the boy produced a small stuffed animal in the palms of both hands. Deidara was pretty sure that he was grinning proudly under that mask he wanted ever-so-badly to rip off.

The stuffed animal was black with a white skeleton structure sewn onto the black fabric. It was wearing a tiny, cream-colored vest with yellow stitches that signified buttons on the vest, and around it's neck was what looked like a cape that was red on the inside, black on the outside, that hung down passed the animal's very tiny feet. It's arms were thin black fabric cut into the shapes of wings, and two bony fangs were sewn onto it's mouth. Erm, where it's mouth _should_ be. In the middle of it's tiny chest was a bright red heart. Deidara immediately thought of Sasori's heart, and cringed slightly.

Deidara took the plush of vampire-bat into his hands, running his fingertips over the velveteen material. It was easy to tell this item wasn't brand new, and had been played with by Tobi, but the fact he was getting anything at all made him smile.

"Thank you, hm." Deidara said, biting back his pride to hug the masked moron. Tobi squealed happily and hugged back easily. At the moment, the bomber didn't seem to mind. He was happy that he was being recognized, and that Tobi wasn't being overly annoying with it, either.

After pulling away and carefully tucking the small stuffed animal under one arm, Deidara slipped the rest of the way down the hall into the living room, where he was greeted thoughtfully by Konan.

"Deidara, isn't today your birthday?" She asked humbly. She received a nod from the blond. "Well then, here you go." With a slight blush on her face, she slipped her hand into her pocket.

Deidara's blue eye darted down to her pocket, not noticing her eyes drift anywhere but her hand or the blond's expression. She pulled out her hand and opened it, revealing a small charm hooked to a loop. It was a rock, polished and carved to what Deidara saw as the shape of a heart. Deidara reached up and grabbed it gently, fingering the smooth surface.

"Thank you, Konan." He said gratefully. It was a thoughtful item, it made him happy. "I'll get Sasori to get me a chain for this so I can wear it like a necklace." He slipped it into his pocket and patted it slightly. "Let's hope I don't lose it by then." He added, chortling softly. Konan took this as a step to break away from the awkward silence and laughed with him.

Deidara nodded to her and slipped by, heading for the kitchen. He was sure his throat was raw by now; Every pulse sent pain shooting down it. He fondled the cupboard until his fingers met the cold metal that was the medicine cabinet's handle. As he yanked it open, he sneezed, wincing as the unexpected force rattled his sore neck. A burning sensation staid in his clogged nose, which he couldn't seem to rub away. His hand grasped a bottle with a push-down spray lever about halfway filled with a red liquid.

He opened his mouth and pressed forcefully down on the small white nozzle atop the bottle, sending two spritz's of the red numbing agent into his mouth, which he swallowed. It traveled halfway down his throat before numbing everything it came in contact with.

Deidara swallowed again, trying to rid his mouth of the bitter taste. Ah well, his throat felt a bit better. The aftertaste wasn't much to complain about. He allowed himself a deep breath, glad that it didn't sting as much.

He put the bottle away and gently closed the cabinet before walking back tiredly to his room. The puppeteer hadn't moved, much less cared that Deidara left. At least that's what the bomber thought before two arms gently wrapped around his shoulder, and released quickly. Sasori half-smiled up at the blond before returning to his desk.

Deidara chuckled lightly, silently thanking his Danna. He laid back on his bed. That was one good thing about the puppet. He didn't fear approaching those who were sick, because he never had to worry about catching it.

The blond slipped in between the sheets. The silence that followed was irritating, and the blond found himself hugging the stuffed animal tightly as the pain returned. By then Sasori had left the room, leaving Deidara alone to get settled into sleep.

But sleep never came. As nausea flooded over him, as well as a busting headache, Deidara couldn't stop the pained groan for his Danna that echoed around the empty room. By then waves of sweat were pouring down over his bright red face, and everything was starting to hurt horridly.

"Sasori...!" Deidara almost screamed, but his throat wouldn't let him get any louder.

By then the puppeteer knew something was wrong with his partner. Deidara had only been disturbing Sasori if it were an actual problem. And the fact he was practically screaming made the puppeteer walk faster. Sasori knew Deidara was ill for a few days, and it wasn't seeming to lighten up. He didn't try to keep his calm and collected look plastered on his face as he bursted into the room and raced over to his partner's bedside.

"What's wrong, Deidara?" Sasori asked, moving Deidara's bang over to the side.

"I-It h-hurts." Deidara stammered, placing a trembling hand over his neck. Sasori moved it aside and leaned in, looking it over. He carefully probed the swollen flesh with a gentle finger. This aroused a scream of shrill pain from the blond, which made Sasori jerk backwards.

"Stay still." He said. He picked up the blond. Medical science wasn't Sasori's field, nor were it anyone in the Akatsuki. But the most medically-educated person here would have to be Kakuzu. Perhaps he would offer some help.

But Kakuzu nor Hidan were here. -Damn missions.- Sasori hissed in his mind. He set Deidara down on the couch. His neck looked blood red, almost as if it were going to blister. This was not a good sign.

Options scored Sasori's brain. Had the blond gotten in tact with any of the puppeteer's poisons? No, Sasori had been at his desk all day. And all of his poisons had a guaranteed reaction time of up to fifteen minutes, so poisons were out of the question.

Had Deidara injured himself? Again, no. He wouldn't intentionally do this to himself, and nothing done on purpose could have effected him this way.

Sasori racked his brain for answers that refused to come. With each passing moment, the blond's condition seemed to be getting worse. Maybe it would be just easier to knock him out. No. Sasori wouldn't risk the chance of Deidara never waking up again.

Sasori tried to remember a list of things Deidara had eaten the past few days. Macaroni and cheese, a hamburger, dangos, and... Some crackers. The blond didn't eat much at all. Could this be part of his problem?

Sasori lifted the netting that covered the bomber's stomach and carefully probed it. His fingers sunk slightly into the flesh. Deidara was healthy in the way of eating; His body was getting enough nutrition.

None of these foods could carry a virus this harmful to him. Sasori had kept a watchful eye out to the things Deidara brought into the room.

It was then the blond wretched. He had enough time to sit up before a disgusting green and red acid poured from his mouth onto his lap. It smelled putrid, enough to make the puppet gag. The green was a type of mucus that surrounded a human stomach's inner walls so the acid inside didn't eat away the stomach itself. Deidara was throwing up both blood and this mucus.

Not only was his throat now throbbing with immense pain, his insides were twisting. The blond screamed once before passing out in a cold sweat.

Sasori was alarmed, and even scared for his partner. This was horrible shape to have anyone in, especially a person as young as Deidara was. Taking him into public would surely get them killed, and the only hospitals were... In the public eye.

Sasori paced back and forth, searching for any kinds of poisons he could think of that would counteract all this. That would make Deidara better.

But nothing came.

Sasori looked, worried, over at Deidara. Was the blond going to die right there?


End file.
